Name: Brianna Cabrera

Atmosphere and Heat Transfer Web Quest

Directions: Click on the link above each set questions to find the answers.
Layers of the Atmosphere
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Atmosphere/layers.html
1. Name the five layers of the atmosphere:
a. troposphere________________________________________
b. stratosphere________________________________________
c. mesosphere________________________________________
d. thermosphere________________________________________
e. exosphere________________________________________ (some scientist consider this layer to be
part of space)
2. Click on the words atmosphere and each layer of the atmosphere to fill in the blanks below:
a. What are the two main gases found in the atmosphere?
1. nitrogen________________________________________
2. oxygen________________________________________
b. The troposphere is the lowest________________________________ region of the Earth's atmosphere and is
where weather____________________________________ occurs.
c. The stratosphere contains the ozone layer which absorbs energy from incoming ultraviolet radiation from the
Sun Look at the diagram: _airplanes___________________________ and hot air
balloons____________________________ can fly in the stratosphere.
d. As you go higher in the mesosphere, the temperature becomes colder
about the mesosphere, but they do know that meteors

. Scientists do not know much

burn up in this layer.

e. The thermosphere contains a layer of charged particles called the ionosphere which makes communication by
Satellites possible and is home to the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights). This is the layer in which space shuttles
fly.
f. In the exosphere the atmosphere is very thin_ as it begins to fade into space.
http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diagrams/atmosphere/index.html
3. Look at the diagram and click layer Names Show It. List the height span of each layer:
a. Troposphere 0-12 km
b. Stratosphere 12-50 km
c. Mesosphere 50-85 km
d. Thermosphere 85- 600 km
4. Click Temperatures Show it. What happens to the temperature in each layer (does it get hotter or colder?)?
a. Troposphere 18C-60C
b. Stratosphere 60C-0C
c. Mesosphere 0C-90C
d. Thermosphere 90C-55C

Heat Transfer
http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/index_tj.asp?objID=SCE304
5. Conduction is the transfer of heat between substances that are in direct contact with each other.
6. Why does the hand need an oven mitt in order to pick up the pot from the stove?
The pot is hot.
7. List four good conductors and four poor conductors:
Good

Poor

Copper

Wood

Silver

Stryofoam

Iron

Paper

Steel

Air

8. Convection is the up and down movement of gases and liquids caused by heat transfer.
9. What happens to the air as the stove heats it?
It warms, expands and rises, because it is less dense
11. What happens to the air as it gets farther from the heat source?
It becomes more dense and falls.
12. List four examples of convection:
1. Warmer water at the surface of a lake or swimming pool
2. Wind currents
3. Hot air balloon
4. Lower floors of a building being cooler than the top floor

13. When electromagnetic waves travel through space it is called radiation.

14. What happens to the temperature of the house as the suns radiant energy touches it?
Electromagnetic waves travel through the house and the sun warms it through the radiation of electromagnetic
waves.
15. List three examples of radiation:
1. A camp fire
2. A microwave oven
3. A light bulb